Impact of historical legacy pesticides on achieving legislative goals in Europe

Pesticides are widely used in agriculture to optimise food production. However, the movement of pesticides into water bodies negatively impacts aquatic environments. The European Union (EU) aims to make food systems fair, healthy and environmentally friendly through its current Farm to Fork strategy. As part of this strategy, the EU plans to reduce the overall use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50 % by 2030. The attainment of this target may be compromised by the prevalence of legacy pesticides arising from historical applications to land, which can persist in the environment for several decades. The current EU Farm to Fork policy overlooks the potential challenges of legacy pesticides and re-quirements for their remediation. In this review, the current knowledge regarding pesticide use in Europe, as well as pathways of pesticide movement to waterways, are investigated. The issues of legacy pesticides, including exceedances, are examined, and existing and emerging methods of pesticide remediation, particularly of legacy pesti-cides, are discussed. The fact that some legacy pesticides can be detected in water samples, more than twenty-five years after they were prohibited, highlights the need for improved EU strategies and policies aimed at targeting legacy pes-ticides in order to meet future targets.

Automated summary

Pesticides used in agriculture have negative impacts on aquatic environments when they enter water bodies. The EU's Farm to Fork strategy aims to make food systems fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly. However, the prevalence of legacy pesticides from historical applications may hinder the EU's goal of reducing chemical pesticide use and risk by 50% by 2030. This review examines pesticide use and movement in Europe, the issues of legacy pesticides, and methods of pesticide remediation.